The LPGA prides itself on accessibility. It’s a big part of the brand.

"All you’ve got is a rope, about three inches between players and fans," said Kraig Kann, the tour’s chief communications officer.

There aren’t a whole lot of similarities between golf tournaments and marathons, but that’s one of them. Another is their international nature. Greg Nichols held the latter as a concern before the explosions at the Boston Marathon.

"Last week with the threats from North Korea, I thought a possibility might be some kind of protest," said the general manager at Ko Olina Golf Club, which hosts the LPGA’s Lotte Championship starting today. "We should rally around all the great Korean players and have it be a point of pride. I’m glad to see nothing’s happened along those lines."

While that is a positive, Monday brought a painful reminder that there are people heartless enough to kill and maim innocents gathered to experience excellence and accomplishment.

And there lies the dilemma for the LPGA. Does that three inches of separation need to be expanded? Does security have to become more intrusive, more of a noticeable presence?

"Our fan experience is something we’re really trying to work on and build," Kann said. "But obviously the seriousness of what happened (Monday) is on the minds of everybody at the LPGA, and there is no way that we will not do the right thing and pay tribute (today) to those victims and do everything we possibly can to make this the safest environment possible for the players and the spectators that come to our events."

The top three ranked players in the world — Inbee Park, Stacy Lewis and Yani Tseng — all expressed fearlessness when asked if they feel more vulnerable after Monday.

"As a tour we have security out every week, and they come out ahead of time," Lewis said. "I’ve never felt unsafe anywhere we’ve been. Certainly what happened in Boston was sad."

It might seem like a party line, or even naive. But then you remember these are competitors and the best in the world at what they do, and they didn’t get here by being timid.

"It’s a cruel world, but at the same time you hear stories about how some of the runners finished the marathon and kept running to go give blood," Michelle Wie said. "You just have to live your life. It’s hard to believe things happen for a reason, but you have to believe in that."

You can’t play scared, and you shouldn’t have to watch scared, either. As Nichols said, now "all of us have something in the back of our heads that worry at every event."

"But we’re as confident (about security measures in place) as we can be, given this world we live in," he added. "The message that came out of Boston is we have to carry on with everyday life with the understanding we have to be vigilant. No one can protect us as well as we can protect ourselves."

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Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783 or on Twitter as @dave_reardon.